Tagged With "National Wellness Week"
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Sonoma County ACES Connection Meeting 4-26-17
Dear Friends, We look forward to coming together to continue our efforts to raise awareness around Adverse Childhood Experiences & Resiliency. Join our community coalition’s meeting on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 12:30 at 625 5 th Street, Santa Rosa in the City View Rooms. Our agenda and meeting notes from March are attached to keep you up to date about our exciting activities and future plans. Your voice, community insight, and local action is helping us achieve community healing. We...
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The Center for the Study of Social Policy...
The Center for the Study of Social Policy website is overflowing with resources for building resilient communities. From their Strengthening Families initiative, I have attach a set of "action sheets" that are geared to help providers improve family resilience, and a powerpoint presentation on protective factors. But I recommend spending time on the website- there are so many resources there for strategizing how to improve outcomes for youth and their families. There are multiple...
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2017 Kids Count Data Book [aecf.org]
Wednesday June 14th the Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 2017 Kids Count Data Book - State Trends in Child Well-Being. This comprehensive report is " a premier source of data on children and families." You can download the report from this post, as well as on the Kids Count website , where you can also access an interactive data map in their Data Center . This is an invaluable amount of data available to the public, relevant to anyone working with children and families - with the...
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2018 "4CA" California Policymaker ACEs Education Day
The second annual 4CA Policymaker Education Day on May 22, brought together 75 community members across California to visit 81 legislators or their staff members and educate them about ACEs, trauma and resilience.
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3 to 5 FREE Counseling Sessions for Those Affected by the NorCal Fires
The Redwood Empire California Association of Marriage and Family Therapist have come together to offer 3-5 FREE counseling sessions for anyone affected by the NorCal fires. See attached or click here for the list of 97 counselors who have offered their services List of RECAMFT Counselors The attached Disaster Survivor Handout is very helpful too. Click here to learn more about RECAMT and to find additional resources Redwood Empire CAMFT
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4 years after integrating ACEs science, Pueblo, CO clinic improves services for families; cuts ER costs, doctor stress
Four years ago, Dr. Leslie Dempsey would never have talked about ACEs — adverse childhood experiences — with her patients. Now ACEs is a common topic. “Just as I don’t feel awkward asking someone if they smoke or do intravenous drugs, I don’t really feel awkward talking about their childhood traumas in a way that it relates to their health. It’s just integrated into obtaining background and social history,” she says. Dr. Leslie Dempsey Dempsey is a physician in obstetrics who oversees a team...
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4Cs Childcare Sites reopening schedule
From 4Cs of Sonoma County UPDATED 10/16/17 4Cs Office will Reopen for Regular Hours Monday October 16th. In addition, 4Cs Preschools will begin to reopen this week. We are following all evacuation guidelines for our sites and will continue to reopen when allowed. Opening Monday October 16th 4Cs Petaluma ... 4Cs Old Elm 4Cs Willow Creek Opening Tuesday October 17th 4Cs Gold Ridge Opening Wednesday October 18th to children: 4Cs Wright Start Preschool (aligned with school district) 4Cs...
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9/27/17 Meeting Minutes
(For a colorful and well formatted version, please see the attached .pdf.) Thank you to all that participated in today’s ACES meeting. Lisa Manthe lead us through a meditation that she does with her students. Lisa shared with us that she begins and ends every school day with meditation to help foster routine and a sense of grounding for the mind body connection. Lisa Manthe from New Directions School joined us to share her experience using art therapy as a way of healing. New Directions...
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A call to action for public health nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Wiley Online Library)
Joyce K. Edmonds PhD, MPH, RN , Shawn M. Kneipp PhD , Lisa Campbell DNP . First published: 12 April 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12733 Public health nurses (PHNs) are on the frontline of the public health crisis the world now knows as the COVID‐19 pandemic. They serve on mobile strike teams investigating case‐contacts, deliver education on self‐isolation and quarantine through hotlines and home visits, and interpret the rapidly shifting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and...
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A National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences
What are ACEs and Why Do They Matter? In 2016 1 , nearly half of U.S. children – 34 million kids – had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and more than 20 percent experienced two or more. The new brain sciences and science of human development explain how ACEs can have devastating, long-lasting effects on children’s health and wellbeing. These events resonate well beyond the individual child to have far-reaching consequences for families, neighborhoods, and communities. ACEs...
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A Post by Amma Thanasanti on her struggles she faces as a result of the Santa Rosa CA fires
Personal Reflections on the Impacts of the Santa Rosa CA Wildfires Found Here: http://awakeningtruth.org/ blog/grace-amidst-heart-break Grace Amidst Heart Break Thursday, 04 January 2018 Inner landscape These last two months have seen a cascade of change. I write from a pause – a time of calm from my warm room looking out at the treetops. The clouds are low. It is raining today. From this vantage point, I share some of what has been going on. October Fires The first week of October, Northern...
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A Post by Amma Thanasanti on her struggles she faces as a result of the Santa Rosa CA fires
Bob Doppelt shares Amma Thanasanti 's Personal Reflections on the Impacts of the Santa Rosa CA Wildfires originally found Here: http://awakeningtruth.org/ blog/grace-amidst-heart-break Grace Amidst Heart Break Thursday, 04 January 2018 by Amma Thanasanti Inner landscape These last two months have seen a cascade of change. I write from a pause – a time of calm from my warm room looking out at the treetops. The clouds are low. It is raining today. From this vantage point, I share some of what...
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A Year of Ripples and Streams: Sonoma County MARC Update
Holly White-Wolfe, an analyst for the Sonoma County Human Services Department , marvels at the changes that have happened in a short amount of time. A few months ago, she and Karen Clemmer, then Coordinator of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health for the County Department of Health Services , were comparing notes on how their respective agencies were building trauma-informed capacity among employees and trying to embed that knowledge in practice. “A year ago,” Clemmer said at the time, “we...
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ACEs and Resiliency Fellowship - New Offering for Trauma-Informed Action
We are excited to report we secured additional funding and support to continue the ACEs and Resiliency Fellowship! We are now ready to offer all of our Master Trainers and Presenters additional training opportunities as “Trauma-Informed Agency Champions.” (Limited spots will also be offered to other community members who want to join in.) Our new program will combine two tracks, led by Sonoma County Office of Education: Trauma-Informed Agency Champion workshops (register for 1-3 workshops)...
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ACEs & Resiliency Master Trainer Program - Apply Today
ACEs & Resiliency Fellowship Master Trainer Program Sonoma County ACEs Connection received a grant from the Health Federation of Philadelphia to establish the Master Trainer program. Program This Master Trainer Program is designed to build a group of local experts on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and resilience science. Learn to promote understanding and how to apply the science to improve health and well being across the lifespan. Application Click here for your application (PDF)...
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ACEs, biomarkers and the cost of adversity
How useful and necessary are biomarkers in telling the story of how toxic stress from adverse childhood experiences and resilience can impact a child’s long-term health? In the introduction to an article in the journal BioEssays , Dr. Kathryn Ridout, a Kaiser Permanente San Jose psychiatrist, and her co-authors examine what is known about two biomarkers and quote data on child maltreatment and its economic burden over time that says it all. “When totaling the costs of health care, child...
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ACEs Connection “Map the Movement” now includes an up-to-date section on laws and resolutions
Photo credit: Texasarchitects.org An updated map of laws and resolutions addressing ACEs science and trauma-informed policies is now available in the “Laws and Resolutions” section of Map the Movement (you can also find "Map the Movement" on the navigation bar on the ACEs Connection home page). The earliest law on the map was passed in the state of Washington in 2011, creating an ACEs science public-private partnership. The data base of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is...
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ACEs Connection's Inclusion Tool makes sure nobody's left out
We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...
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ACES Science 101 (FAQs)
What are ACEs? ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children's developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. ...
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ACEs Science Champion Series: Dr. Angela Bymaster: This Faith-Based Physician Integrates ACEs Science with Healing Arts
Dr. Angela Bymaster, a family physician at Washington Elementary School in San Jose, CA, operates her clinic in a portable unit on the school property.
Because the unit faces students as they are dropped off by their families, she gets to “pick up the kids” before they are sent to the clinic, practicing “upstream medicine.”
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ACEs screening in CA — a Q and A with Dr. Dayna Long
Last year, the California Department of Health Care Services rolled out its plans for universal screening for trauma among its pediatric and adult Medicaid population. Beginning January 1, 2020, California physicians were able to receive an incentive payment of $29 for each pediatric patient screened for ACEs using the PEARLs ( Pediatrics Adverse Childhood and Resilience Study) tool. Dr. Dayna Long talked with ACEs Connection staff reporter Laurie Udesky about ACEs science, what led to the...
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Addressing Trauma and Building Resiliency as Comprehensive Disaster Planning and Response
The attached memo is intended to make observations about communities affected by disaster-related trauma, and to offer recommendations for trauma-informed recovery. Community examples provide case studies or models for other communities grappling with similar issues. Suggested resources and tools provide communities with support for accelerated action. Memo authors represent active cross sector networks that contribute to resilient community infrastructure development, awareness building,...
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After 5-year journey to integrate ACEs science, Santa Rosa, CA, pediatric clinic is trauma-informed, from head to toe
Dr. Meredith Kieschnick was among the first physicians in the U.S. to hear the term, "adverse childhood experiences". That was in 1998, early on in her career as a pediatrician, when the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) published its initial findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine . “I attended a conference at which (Dr. Vincent) Felitti spoke,” she recalls. Felitti, at that time director of the Health Appraisal Center at Kaiser Permanente...
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Alive and Well: Moving Missouri Toward Grass-Roots and System-Wide Change
On the eastern edge of Missouri, leaders of the Alive and Well network had generated a robust media campaign to help people understand the impact of trauma and toxic stress on health and well-being. There was a monthly column in an African-American newspaper, spots about toxic stress and resilience on urban radio stations and weekly public service features on the NBC affiliate, with physicians, clergy and teachers advocating ways to “be alive and well.” Two hundred and fifty miles to the...
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An Unlikely Partnership: Strengthening Families Touched by Incarceration
Thank you Laura Porter for sharing this video with our community. This video highlights some of the impacts of incarceration on children and families, and an innovative and unlikely partnership that has reached a sometimes overlooked population of children. The video doesn't directly discuss ACEs, but the back story is all about ACEs (and saving money). Washington Partnership Bolsters Parental Resilience, Documented in National Film Press Release – Department of Corrections Washington State...
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ANNOUNCING: $700,000 GRANT TO SONOMA LAND TRUST TO PROTECT CRITICAL OPEN SPACE LAND AT SONOMA DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER [CFSC]
By Caitlin Childs, June 26, 2019, Community Foundation Sonoma County We are so pleased to announce this wonderful news: Thanks to the vision of a family that cared deeply about the future of Sonoma County, the Sonoma Land Trust has received a $700,000 grant from Community Foundation Sonoma County and our regional affiliate the Sonoma Valley Fund to protect more than 700 acres of open space, trails and natural resources at the site of the former Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC). This grant...
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Are We Crazy About Our kids? Documentary Short Film and Panel Discussion
Are We Crazy About Our kids? Documentary Short Film and Panel Discussion by Russian River Cradle to Career Collaborative Thursday, April 27, 2017 6:30pm-8:30pm Rio Theatre 20396 Bohemian Highway Monte Rio, CA 95462 TO RSVP CLICK HERE “Every dollar we put into high-quality early childhood education we get $7 back in reduced teen pregnancy, improved graduation rates, improved performance in school, reduced incarceration rates. The society as a whole does better.” President, Barack Obama...
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Art as an expressive outlet
I just finished watching Paper Tigers and one thing that I found very interesting was how many of the students found art as an expressive outlet. Some students found that drawing, writing or listening to music was what was keeping them alive. I think if we were all to reflect on a time where we sat down and started to draw or listen to our favorite song many can probably relate to that sense of release. I was compelled to do some further research and found a review by Stuckey and Nobel from...
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Artists in the ACE and Resilience Movement: Creative Avenues to Change
This story was written by Anndee Hochman.
They began with a song and ended with a poem. In-between, there were photographs and giant graphic renderings, movement exercises and a “human pulse” formed when 90 people stood in a circle and squeezed each other’s hands.
At a June summit in Whatcom County, Washington, titled “Our Resilient Community: A Community Conversation on Resilience and Equity,” the arts played a starring role.
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As California Moves to Screen Children for Childhood Trauma, Poverty Has To Be Part of the Equation
In California, we are coming full circle in recognizing the connection between poverty and health.
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Assisting Refugees: Lessons on Trauma and Resilience
Making do with what you’ve got There are a lot of stories about refugees in the news. Some years ago, I helped resettle refugees from the Vietnam War. Trauma and resilience define what it means to be a refugee. All of them had lived through years of warfare. They had seen friends and family members killed. They had to flee the familiar towns and villages they had lived in all their lives. They arrived in a new country with hardly any resources, in a land where nobody spoke their language or...
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Back by popular demand: Group managers' workshop May 10! (Save the date!!)
We’re planning a series of one-day regional workshops for ACEs Connection group managers. We’re planning three events: one in Southern California on May 4, one in Northern California (maybe in Vallejo...somewhere as central as possible) on May 10, and another in the San Francisco Bay Area sometime later in May. We have room for about 40 people at each workshop -- that means between four and six people from each existing or developing groups in Northern California (Sonoma,...
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Back by popular demand, PART TWO: SAVE THE REAL DATE -- MAY 12!!
Hi, Everyone: For those of you took note of this blog post -- Back by popular demand: Group managers' workshop May 10 (Save the date!!) -- we had to make a few changes because of conflicts and venue availability. So, the REAL date for the NorCal community groups is May 12, and it will be in Sacramento, which we figured was fairly central for people coming from Sonoma, Yolo, Napa, Sacramento, Butte, Eldorado, Shasta and Mendocino counties (and perhaps a couple more). We're hosting the...
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Be the Spark: Igniting trauma-informed change within our communities
Authors note: This piece is co-authored by @Lara Kain and @Christine Cissy White. Though we had never worked together or met, we were asked to co-present on creating t rauma-informed changes in communities by the Attachment Trauma Network for the first national (now annual) Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Summit in Washington, DC. This article is an expanded essay version of that presentation). Be the Spark Oprah Winfrey helped mainstream discussion about...
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Berkeley City College group screens Resilience, looks at ACEs through a social justice lens
As far back as she can remember, Berkeley City College Mental Health Specialist Janine Greer understood that there was a connection between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health. She had a sense early on that racism figures large in that equation. “Looking around in my community – I’m African American, I noticed that even people who had healthy habits got funky diseases,” she said. “And I’m thinking there must be some sort of health trouble that happens if you’re always stressed.”...
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Blue Ribbon Event on April 23
April is Child Abuse Prevention month. This year, Prevent Child Abuse-Sonoma County and Child Parent Institute have planned some special offerings. Here is a listing. Please note that ACEs Connection founder and editor, Jane Ellen Stevens, will...
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Bringing ACEs Passion to the Commission on the Status of Women
Harnessing the wisdom that comes from challenging life experiences is a gift - and, it takes strength. Finding a pathway to healing , through expressive art, writing, and kayaking are just some of the ways that Michelle Denham role models the value of self-care. Michelle brings this wisdom to her role on the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women . CSW Commissioner Michelle Denham As a passionate Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) champion , Michelle brings a trauma informed lens...
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Building Community Resilience Expands
In response to the increasing demand for BCR expertise and insight we plan to provide more opportunities to share lessons learned. In addition to our regional expansion, see BCR in action later this month. Join us for the next BCR Town Hall in DC on Thursday, April 19th at 3:00pm (EST) in person or via livestream. Read more for details.
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Materials from our Building Resilience on a Solid Foundation: Community of Practice Event
Thank you to all who attended our Building Resilience on a Solid Foundation: Community of Practice. Attached are the materials from our day together. Also, here is the link to Got Your ACE Score? , which has the 10-question ACE survey, an explanation of what it means, and a resilience survey. You can register for our April 25 th Community of Practice event featuring Eddy Zheng at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/o...-tickets-31517247937
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Building trust is now a critical part of health care
In a video clip , a hospital patient turns away in protest as a physician enters the room. “Why do you all keep coming in my room!” she asks in frustration. The physician moves a chair out of the way and sits down at eye level with the patient. “You’ve had to see so many people,” he acknowledges. “And I’m tired of it!” she yells. “I already know I have to get both of my legs cut off. That’s what they keep saying. I don’t have a choice!” “You don’t feel like you have a choice,” he repeats...
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CA announces robust perinatal depression prevention for Medi-Cal recipients
Melinda Coates experienced a tumultuous pregnancy. “I was really mentally upset literally from day one (of the pregnancy),” she says. (Melinda Coates is a pseudonym. To protect her and her children’s privacy and safety, we are not using her real name.) Coates had hoped to get counseling last October, when she was seven months pregnant. That’s when she enrolled in the state’s Medi-Cal program, shortly after she and her abusive husband moved to California, “but nobody was able to get me in...
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California Child Trauma Advocates Eye Policy Impact
Jeremy Loudenback from the Chronicle of Social Change posted a story about last week's California Policy Convening on Childhood Adversity that the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) hosted in San Diego. Here's the beginning: Last...
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California Child Welfare Policy and Progress, Winter Issue
The California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership Report This issue of in sights provides an overview of the latest legislative developments in California, including data and perspectives on the policy and practice transformation taking place with the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR). Beyond a comprehensive summary of child welfare state legislation, this issue also includes a discussion on the key provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act. The issue concludes with...
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California issues update on state residents' ACE scores from 2011 & 2013 surveys
The latest adverse childhood experiences survey from the California Department of Public Health shows that 42% of the population has an ACE score of 3 or higher; 16% have an ACE score of 4 or higher. Those with an ACE score of 4 or higher are: 3x more likely to be current smokers 4x more likely to have a depressive disorder 2x more likely to have asthma 2x more likely to be obese 4x more likely to have COPD 3x more likely to have a stroke Here are a few other highlights from the six-page...
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Changing Minds and Creating Trauma-Informed Communities Convenings - South and North
Last week, on two separate days in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, about 150 people (total) convened to listen and brainstorm about creating trauma-informed communities. Futures Without Violence, which is rolling out its Changing Minds campaign later this year, hosted both events. Some very interesting and important themes emerged from the two days: Residents with lived experiences should participate in the decision-making bodies of service providers and vested...
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Changing Minds: New PSA's for Communities Seeking to Address Childhood Trauma
A new national campaign launched last week hopes to raise awareness around childhood trauma, starting with a series of videos that highlight the important roles that adults can play in helping children succeed after experiencing violence. Changing Minds is a partnership between the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), San Francisco-based nonprofit Futures Without Violence, the Ad Council and the advertising agency Wunderman. Read the full article here: Changing Minds Launches Child...
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Child-Friendly Space Offering Transitional Support and Relief
CHILD-FRIENDLY SPACE UPDATE: "Hello! You are receiving this email because either you or someone you know has been greatly affected by the recent wildfires . I am writing this email from a facility that has graciously opened its doors and allowed The School Box Project to create a child-friendly space to provide support and relief for children of all ages with various special needs. The operation will be framed with trauma-informed care and Universal Designed Learning principles in mind. The...
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Child Parent Institute April 2019 Parenting Newsletter
I recently read that, “According to a [2007] report by the A.C. Nielsen Company, parents spend only 39 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children.” Yikes. That’s less time than it takes me to watch one meaningful episode of This Is Us. Although the report is over 10 years old, I wouldn’t be surprised if this statistic were worse now, given the exponential growth in use of smartphones and social media within the last decade. It makes me wonder how many minutes of...
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Child Parent Institute Resiliency Support List of Offerings
CPI has been working with their staff and community partners to contribute some help to the families in our community. Here is a flyer of free services that we can offer now and in the coming months. Please see the attached file for the complete schedule of offerings.
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Childhood trauma a crucial public health issue [CapitolWeekly.net]
Preventing childhood trauma should be one of the top goals of California policymakers, a coalition of child advocates say. About 150 of the advocates came to Sacramento last week to educate legislators about the devastating effects of adverse childhood experiences. The goal was to help legislators create policies that will better protect kids. Adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs, are experiences that are so harmful to children’s developing brains that they affect their lives decades...